Janet Jackson – a free agent

Janet Jackson is a free agent. Who the fuck cares. She hasnt made a hot record since Rhythm Nation. I worked that record when I was a rookie at A&M, I remember Charlie Minor telling me one night at Roxbury when I had “Black Cat” banging from the system, “Ev, you make sure that everybody knows you work for A&M. Get on the Mic in that booth and let them know A&M is in the house. Sure enough as any good street promoter will tell ya, if the Djs are supporting you in the clubs and the people are dancing to your shit – Its a hit. And sure as Charlie was the master of promotion, this was the hottest promotion playground in LA, and the last time janet was bumped in a club. check out lastfm info”In 1990 with the release of “Black Cat” from her “Rhythm Nation 1814” album, Janet Jackson became the first, and only, artist in Billboard history to score a #1 hit on Billboard’s Hot 100 chart, R&B chart, Dance chart, Adult Contemporary chart and, Rock chart. When “Black Cat” hit #1 on Billboard’s Mainstream Rock singles chart as well as Billboard’s Hot 100, it was the first time a song hit #1 simultaneously on both of those charts.” Yeah, I worked this baby…

She had a little buzz when she went to Virgin but she never had the streets or the people behind her like Rhythm Nation. Hanging out with the Tribe doesnt make you cool, and doesnt make you hip hop. Qtip, Phife and Ali Shaheed are hip hop, Janet jackson not hip at all. It was a cool attempt to get to the kids but janet had a hit with, “Thats the way love goes” and the rest of the album was a coaster at my house. 

So the fact that Dimitja Jo is a free agent is no surprise, She was the biggest of  them all back in the early 90’s, now she is just the biggest – literally the biggest, and its a shame.  Bad management, bad A&R, and a Huge Ego led to her wack ass albums. Fact is she needs Jimmy and Terry not Jermaine and hip hop. She needs a treadmill, some slim fast and a fucking writer.

The only place for her is Live nation or with some Dubai Prince that will bail her and her brother out and let them do shows around the globe taking 50% of the gross. Because after the Jacksons pay off all of their fringes, there is usually only enough dough to cover the costs of a cup of coffee. Any label head willing to give her any dough without a 50-50 split on everything should be fired. She’s done. Well done… She needs to call it a wrap. Thats wrap with a w, not Rap with an R…

Street teams 102

What is the right time to drop a record? When the streets are calling thats when. People waited for Snoop, waited for Eminem, 50 cent and the Game. And they waited for Lil Wayne. The record business isnt over. But the people running the business have been dead for a while. Doing dumb shit to fool the kids, wasting money to bullshit retailers and paying money to artists that dont deserve to be in the studio in the first place. My suggestion – Dont pay the artist until you know if they are really committed, really focused and really talented. Dont waste my time. Concentrate on building platforms before wasting $$$ and wasting our time. All the artists that have become big starts today have built platforms before they dropped a record be it Jack Johnson or Lil Wayne. Both spent time in the streets or at the beach…

Guitar Hero

A few months ago I went over to one of my bro’s offices and he brought me out their latest smash release, ‘Guitar Hero’. Now I am not a gamer but I was blown away by this video game. It is awesome, just one more reason to understand that the music business is changing – fast. 

Not for nothing, but this game could change people’s lives. And here’s why.

I put the game on in my recording studio and my daughter Ella picked up the guitar and started hitting the cords and jumping up and down like a rockstar. She then picked out a song and became a rockstar. She played the game for hours and posed in front of the camera in her black and white leggings, her rockstar tshirt and her pigtails shaking back and forth. I couldnt stop laughing. My friends were on the floor, but she wasnt done.

She climbed up on my desk grabbed the mic and did a better performance than half of the people that walk into our recording studio. She really thinks she is a rockstar. and thats just half of the story.

The next day we went into Hollywood for lunch at this great Italian joint inside Fred Seagals. As we sat down my luantic daughter grabbed two knives and started banging on the table, ” I am IRON MAN, dadadadadada dundadadun. the people started to look over as I said Ella chill out, we are at a restaurant baby. The waitress came over and couldnt believe it, so did a bunch of other customers. But thats not all. Ella decided it was showtime and busted out her version of our favorite song, ” Momma told me, yes she told me, Id meet girls like you, She also told me stay away you’ll never know what you’ll catch….” in the middle of her verse this guy looks over wearing black leather pants with a boa around his neck and a bandana around his long black hair. He was in a business meeting at the next table. He hears this version of Surrender and says, “You gotta be kidding me?” I said nope, she does this all day long. I said to him, ‘you want to hear her sing one of your songs? He said which one? Depends on her mood but maybe she’ll give you “Train kept a rollin, or Walk this way” You see the guy was Steven Tyler the best rock and roller of all-time and my kid was rocking the house – all because of Guitar Hero. And because her daddy is a really cool daddy. She stopped singing after all the applause to say, “daddy I gotta go peepee’ You see my daughter, Ellabelle Rose Forster is three… yes 3.